Doctor’s Wanted Up North
Photo via ACT Lanka
A friend is putting together a roster of doctors to send north. Doctors and nursing staff are quite needed but there are two huge caveats. One is that access is difficult, and two is that accommodation is not very good. Issue number one can be sorted (sorta) for Sri Lankan nationals. You need to be a Sri Lanka registered doctor with a SL passport or NIC. And, sad to say it, security clearance is much more difficult if you’re Tamil, though that language skill is of course most valuable up there. Regardless, if you’re a Sri Lankan doctor and interested in helping up there it’s much needed, and good experience in its way. Contact bravenewworld09@gmail.com for more info, they’re putting together a roster.
Here are the questions I was given:
1) Are they Tamil, and if not do they speak Tamil? (security is tougher, unfortunately)
2) Can they pay for their travel (airfare etc) to Colombo.
3) accommodation will be provided, but living conditions are cramped
4) prospective dates that the Consultant/Doctor is available?
5) security is super tight. so there are no guarantees that ANYBODY may be suddenly turned away at a checkpoint.
If that stuff works for you or a doctor you know then do mail bravenewworld09@gmail.com with what dates you’d be available. You can also contact me at indi@indi.ca though you may as well go directly.
Ah yes, I do believe I may find you three volunteers. All you need to do is get them out of jail.
oh so snidely…
but you gotta admit, Indi, the job reqs and personal material benefits don’t compare to those that come with plastic surgery or internal med over in the west.
alot of people are going to make that very callous decision. I don’t know how you would convince somebody to come who doesn’t already feel like a stakeholder in SL.
It’s not a career offer. I’m sure docs could come over for a short period as volunteers. I know some German docs (dentists, pediatricians, etc) who spend their summer holidays doing volunteer work in Nepal, the Philippines, and other countries where they are needed. Then they go back to their regular jobs after.
There were plenty of docs who volunteered their time over here during the Tsunami. I didn’t see them debating the economics and profit factors. This is a temporary service not a permanent posting.
Yeah, it’s not a job. There is no money and the living conditions suck but peoples still volunteer. It is very good experience for a young doctor, see a depth and breadth of stuff you wouldn’t normally.
And people that aren’t stakeholders in SL (ie, citizens) can’t really get in anyways.
Very true Indi. I met a couple of doctors who came down from London during the Tsunami and they were saying how glad they were to come down as it provided them with a sort of on-the-job training they couldn’t have got anywhere else!
medical school is a large investment in the US, often subsidized by parents who have previously borne the cost of undergraduate education, and I don’t think that a young idealistic doctor looking for residencies would look at this (especially if they have a tamil surname) as a great opportunity. After all, there’s South America (low-intensity conflicts, fashionable), Sudan (fashionable, sexy) and even Appalachia (backyard, different, could be fashionable). The bills have to get paid and don’t get deferred for life.
i’ve spoken to cousins in OZ who are docs and they’re not seeing a massive surge of interest in helping out.
this may be different for people coming from other countries, as TKRP and David pointed out, but the incentives don’t seem to be in place. That and the fact that doctors who speak to the BBC get thrown in jail without the right to know or dispute their charges or have a realistic chance of compensation for wrongful imprisonment.
Docs from Europe go to the most godawful places on the planet for their summer holidays, not just the glamourous spots like Sudan, and for no incentives whatsoever. Spend a month here and go back to Germany or France or wherever and you can talk to the BBC or whoever you like. But most of the docs in Europe who do this stuff, aren’t interested in talking really, just helping people.
Why not release those three doctors presently in custody?
That’s three Tamil speaking doctors for you there.
TYFR
well, according to Indi, Kardigarmar was the last official with clout to know what diplomacy is and how it works in real life. Though I’m not sure that it’s a solid grounding in diplomatic practice that hamstrung the GOSL response to the voluble doctors.
Oh no. That would be counter-productive and serve the terrorist diaspora’s agenda. What if those doctors got asylum and started talking about what was happening in the ”safe zone”? Horror of horrors! Civilians are important, but not THAT important. No Indi?
[...] recently published a post that might appeal to doctors who have a little time to travel and volunteer their skills. Medical services are in great need for [...]
wow, you don’t really see how fucked your country is
there is an ongoing disater goin on up noth
and you, indi, actually support keeping non SL doctors out of the area…
i could have 300 docotrs in those camps in 48 hours if the genocidal SL govt allowed tamils and non SL doctors to go there…
but you won’t because you (the gosl / SL stakeholders) can’t intimidate them into silence once they leave like the country
you shall reap what you sow…
karma’s a bitch
no, karma is something people use as a crutch or Armageddon weapon in revenge fantasies. It’s also a myth–insofar as those who do wrong are not always eventually punished and those who do right are not always eventually rewarded.
what Jan’s co-ideologues fail to grasp is the art of the possible. Indi is trying and mainly succeeding in doing so. To talk about being able to put 300 doctors on the ground is to pin wings on a Tamworth hog, push it over a steep cliff and hope for a smooth flight. the GOSL will not allow a massive influx of foreign docs that they cannot satisfactorily filter for ideological suitability. the Hippocratic Oath’s credentialing power doesn’t exactly extend to Bazzie, Gota and MahiMahi. Remember, his highness’ personal doctor, Eliyantha White, is a quack peddling herbs and witch doctor-like powers.
There are Tamil and foreign doctors up there. There are German and French field hospitals. I’m not much for karma, but I don’t think you earn much sitting far away and blaming people. Rather than using a crutch, why not deliver one?
I don’t think you can get 300 doctors here. I’d be more impressed if you promised and delivered, like, two. The real problem is that the accommodation and stuff sucks. I think they should let more people in, but I personally find it more productive to collect NICs that fit the current requirement rather than overthrowing the government.
300 doctors in 48 hours? Who are you? FEMA?